Over 50 Stereo-3D Games Incoming for PlayStation 3 - Sony.

Sony Computer Entertainment said that over fifty stereoscopic 3D games are incoming for the PlayStation 3 game console and will be available in foreseeable future. Moreover, the company believes that stereo-3D (S3D) is one of the key elements of the future home game consoles.

"I can say that overall we have more than fifty titles currently being converted into 3D, and this number is growing fast. I can tell you, games are leading the way when it comes to the driving the whole 3D revolution," said Mick Hocking, the director of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Studios, in an interview with Develop web-site.

According to Mr. Hocking, it takes roughly 2% of a game development budget to convert a title into S3D depending on rendering and conversion techniques. That said, a lot of game developers seem to be interested in such a move: at present Sony is developing about twenty S3D titles internally and over thirty are created by third-party studios.

Although stereo-3D home industry has all chances to take off even slower than the Blu-ray disc did in the consumer electronics industry back in the middle of the oughts, Sony considers the technology as one of the key elements of future video games and game consoles.

"The first is that interest in 3D is growing fast, and many different industries are investing heavily in 3D right now. The 3D market is going to continue to grow with film, TV, websites and games all set to embrace the technology. There is a lot more 3D films on the way in cinemas, and over the next few years 3D will begin to dominate the home space. [...] The industry is behind our unique message that 3D is a key element in the future of home consoles," said Mr. Hocking.

A natural problem with Sony's perception of stereo-3D is that the company believes S3D is the key element of the future of home consoles as the firm needs to sell its stereoscopic 3D televisions as well as promote Blu-ray 3D standard. Meanwhile, the success of Nintendo Wii clearly demonstrated that innovative ideas that do not require expensive hardware (e.g., an S3D HDTV for $2000+) may create a leader out of outsider and the very slow start of PlayStation 3 showed how easily a leader can lost its lead. If stereocopic-3D hardware takes off even slower than Blu-ray disc did, game developers will implement it as an element or option, but not as the key technology.